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Joseph Dorgan
| birth_place = Buffalo, New York | death_date = | death_place = | resides = Atlanta, Georgia | billed = Long Island, New York | trainer = Ron Hutchinson Sweet Daddy Siki | debut = 1993 | retired = }} Joseph Robert "Joe" Dorgan (July 3, 1975) is an American professional wrestler. He has wrestled in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) as Johnny Swinger and with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as Johnny Parisi. Career Early career After training in Toronto, Ontario, Dorgan started wrestling on the independent circuit in 1993 as "Johnny Paradise". After he discovered that another wrestler was already using that name, he renamed himself "Johnny Hollywood Swinger" and began to make a name for himself as a villain in Scott D'Amore's "Syndicate" faction in Border City Wrestling. In 1995, he worked for World Wrestling Federation going by his real name, Joe Dorgan, following in the footsteps of his uncle, Johnny Parisi, who worked for the WWWF under Vince McMahon Sr. World Championship Wrestling (1996–1999) Swinger began working for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in late 1996, shortening his ring name to "Johnny Swinger." He was utilized primarily in preliminary matches and wrestled mostly on WCW Saturday Night and WCW World Wide. Swinger also appeared on both of the company's flagship programs, including the highest rated Monday Nitro in July 1998, losing to Chavo Guererro in front of a sold-out Georgia Dome; this same night, Goldberg defeated Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Swinger remained in WCW for three years and was considered under utilized until joining Extreme Championship Wrestling Extreme Championship Wrestling (2000–2001) Swinger joined ECW in 2000. He was placed in a tag team with Simon Diamond by booker Paul Heyman in May 2000, and shortened his name to "Swinger." He remained with ECW until it folded in April 2001. World Championship Wrestling (2001) Swinger returned to WCW for one week for the Cruiserweight Tag Team Tournament. On the February 26, 2001 edition of Nitro where he and Jason Lee were defeated by Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio, Jr.. He also wrestled on the February 28, 2001 edition of WCW Thunder where Swinger (accompanied by Jason Lee) lost to Shane Helms. Shortly after, WCW was purchased by the WWF and it programming ceased. World Wrestling All-Stars (2003) He had a brief stint in the earlier part of 2003 in the World Wrestling All-Stars promotion. Total Nonstop Action (2003–2005) On July 9, 2003, Diamond and Swinger debuted as a team in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). They feuded with America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) for some time before winning the NWA World Tag Team Championships. The team split on February 18, 2004 when Swinger turned into a villain by pledging allegiance to Jeff Jarrett, and feuded with one another. Swinger eventually formed a stable known as "The New York Connection" with Glenn Gilbertti, Vito and Trinity. World Wrestling Entertainment (2005–2006) Dorgan signed a developmental deal with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2005, and began training at Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in May 2005. He made his WWE debut on the July 31, 2005 episode of Sunday Night Heat as "Johnny Parisi" winning his debut match for the company. He was a main stay on Heat. His ring name was derived from his great uncle Tony Parisi, a former World Wide Wrestling Federation performer. He was relegated to jobber status, however, losing every match he was in since that victorious debut. In September 2005 Parisi was sent to Deep South Wrestling wrestling there for 2 months while also wrestling on Sunday Night Heat, until being taken off of television in November due to an injury. He came back in December 2005 being sent back to DSW. He worked two more Heat matches for WWE in February, 2006 losing competitively to Chavo Guerrero and Kane. He was released on June 29, 2006. Parisi has the dubious distinction of being one of the only WWE wrestlers to never appear on camera or wrestle on his brand's main show: Raw. Independent Circuit Johnny Swinger has resurfaced as a TNA agent, at least on trial basis. After being released from the WWE he went back to wrestling on the independent circuit mainly wrestling for Great Championship Wrestling (GCW). He has great title success there winning the GCW Heavyweight title on 2 occasions and the GCW Tag Titles twice, once with Glenn Gilberti and once with Bull Buchanan. Raven came to GCW to help Swinger with his feud against Michaels Inc. in December 2006. After winning the GCW title from Chris Stevens, Swinger turned on Raven and joined Michaels Inc. In January 2007, Swinger began challenging TNA wrestlers to try to come to challenge him in GCW. In response to this, TNA Director of Authority, Jim Cornette came to a GCW show to confront Swinger. Swinger and Bull Buchanan were defeated by Raven and David Young on January 31. Afterwards, David Young challenged Swinger for the GCW title. He later lost the title to Scotty Beach in a steel cage match via submission. On September 15, he defeated Scotty Beach for the GCW title once again. On September 29 he faced Bull Buchanan in a losing effort within a steel cage at Fred Ward Memorial. He returned to WWE to face Ron Simmons in a match on WWE Heat, and on October 14, 2007, appeared for TNA's flagship pay-per-view, Bound for Glory, competing in a dark match with Joey Matthews against The Motor City Machineguns. Swinger recaptured the GCW Heavyweight Championship from Bull Buchanan on December 15, 2007, in a triple threat match that also included another TNA veteran, Sonny Siaki. Swinger spent most of 2008 fighting off challenges of various contenders for the GCW Championship, including Scotty 2 Hotty, The Disco Inferno, and Bull Buchanan. On July 29, 2010, it was confirmed that Swinger would take part in TNA's ECW reunion show Hardcore Justice on August 8. At the event Swinger, Simon Diamond and Kid Kash were defeated by Little Guido, Tony Luke and Tracy Smothers of the Full Blooded Italians in a six-man tag team match. Impact Wrestling (2019-present) Personal life Dorgan and his wife Melanie have a daughter. In wrestling *'Finishing moves' **''Long Island Legsweep'' (Half nelson legsweep) **''Swing Thing'' (Cobra clutch legsweep) *'Signature moves' **''The Shaft'' (DDT) **''Swinger Stinger'' (Shoulder jawbreaker) **Swinging neckbreaker *'Managers' **Glenn Gilbertti (TNA) **Dawn Marie (ECW) **Trinity (TNA) **Angel Williams (DSW) **Quentin Michaels (GCW) Championships and accomplishments *'Border City Wrestling' **BCW Can-Am Heavyweight Championship (2 times) **BCW Can-Am Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Scotty Summers *'Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling' **CAPW North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'Elite Wrestling Federation' **EWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Scott D'Amore *'Georgia Championship Wrestling / Great Championship Wrestling' **GCW Heavyweight Championship (5 times) **GCW Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Glenn Gilberti (1) and Bull Buchanan (1) *'Maximum Pro Wrestling' **MXPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Simon Diamond *'Motor City Wrestling' :*MCW Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Johnny Paradise *'NWA Main Event' **NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'Total Nonstop Action Wrestling' **NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Simon Diamond *'Universal Championship Wrestling' **UCW World Championship (1 time) External links * Joseph Dorgan Profile at CAGEMATCH *Johnny Swinger on Online World of Wrestling Category:American wrestlers Category:1975 births Category:1993 debuts Category:AWA World-1 South alumni Category:Ballpark Brawl alumni Category:Border City Wrestling alumni Category:Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Deep South Wrestling alumni Category:Extreme Championship Wrestling alumni Category:Georgia Championship Wrestling alumni Category:Great Championship Wrestling alumni Category:Impact Championship Wrestling alumni Category:Maximum Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Mid Eastern Wrestling Federation alumni Category:National Wrestling Alliance alumni Category:Anarchy Wrestling alumni Category:NWA Main Event alumni Category:Ohio Valley Wrestling alumni Category:Prime Time Wrestling alumni Category:Ring of Glory alumni Category:Total Nonstop Action Wrestling alumni Category:USA Pro Wrestling alumni Category:World Championship Wrestling alumni Category:World Wrestling All-Stars alumni Category:World Wrestling Entertainment alumni Category:X Wrestling Federation alumni Category:New York wrestlers Category:Living people Category:Male wrestlers Category:Legends Of Wrestling alumni Category:NWA World Tag Team Champions